18 months

my baby boy turned 18 months old this month! at 1 1/2 years old what does a perfect little blonde haired, blue eyed boy enjoy? let's see...his thumb and "nee nee"(blankie), books!, singing & music, BALLS!, puzzles, counting (which is precious, by the way), putting buckets on his head, barney, baby einstein, attacking his big brothers, bathtime, suckers, and of course, his mommy & daddy! he's also partial to his paw paws. i love this baby boy...his unique little personality and beaming lil smile melt my heart everyday.

morrie's words

i've actually finished 2 books recently, which for me is a HUGE deal. i'm notorious for starting and never finishing book after book. tuesdays with morrie was a gift from jerry for christmas and i already knew i loved mitch albom's writing so i dove into it and wasn't one bit disappointed. there are so many quotes i wanted to share out of it, but here's a few...
--"we all know how to be a child. it's inside all of us. for me, it's just remembering how to enjoy it."
--"do the kinds of things that come from the heart. when you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. on the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed with what comes back."
--"devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."

found

i just finished reading amy grant's book, mosaic, which as the biggest amy grant fan ever, was a fantastic book. at the end she was speaking about her prayer for her children and i was struck by this one part. she writes, "as i listened to my youngest child pray, i realized, He's finding her...apart from me. and she's responding to him. that's my prayer for my children, that when they feel the pull of God, they respond. that's my prayer for myself as well. didn't God say, 'you did not choose me, but i chose you?' in the end our children's journeys of faith will be as unique as our own. my prayer continues to be, God, find them the way you found me".

toothfairy?

tonight my biggest baby boy lost his 1st tooth! after some serious persuasion, i convinced him to let me "wiggle it around a little" and then "gently" pull on it. the thing was so ready to come out that it didn't even bleed! you could basically touch both sides of his gums with it and i can't believe that it didn't fall out from him sucking his thumb so much. now i have to figure out how this toothfairy business works. the boys had a million questions from how big is she...to...is she invisible like an angel? it was so cute. i had to call jerry at work to see how rich he thinks our toothfairy is :)

christmas fun

well, after a month full of making cookies, watching christmas movies, reading christmas stories, shopping for gifts, and decorating, the fun of christmas has proven to be exciting and crazy at our house! we've now had christmas with the larrison extended family at my cousin kelli's house where santa came and visited. i don't think caleb ever stopped talking to him :) then we had christmas with the teipens down at their house. my kids absolutely love their cousins and enjoyed every minute of playing with their new toys together. then we had christmas at our house after going downtown on christmas eve to see the pretty lights. i hope the zoo parking lot didn't mind some extra moisture on the ground as we had to make an emergency little boy X 2 pee pee stop! santa spoiled the boys, of course, and even left some surprises for mom & dad too this year. we have one more christmas left at my parent's house which will make for another house full of lots of fun toys, i'm sure! despite the chaos of toys, stockings, candy, etc, the boys are very mindful of why we're celebrating christmas and often talk about jesus' birthday and why God sent him to us. it's quite precious and i'm so thankful that we live somewhere safe where we can celebrate and talk about jesus! merry christmas!!

ouch

well my first day of work was great...the people were very nice, the job seems very interesting, and i was excited to go home and tell jerry all about it...until...i crashed our pathfinder. it was totally my fault. i honestly don't even remember seeing the red light until it was too late, but i did see the big red truck that was coming at me. i can't really explain what happened. i think i glanced down at my phone and was so focused on what road i was gonna take that when i looked up i was in the middle of the intersection. it's stupid and i feel like an idiot for causing such a preventable accident, but it truly was an accident. the driver of the truck was very understanding and even the police officer didn't give me a ticket for running the light. we both were not injured. of course i'm very sore and i'm sure he is too, but considering what could've happened we are both very lucky. it's totally by the grace of God that such a horrible accident resulted in only damage to metal! what an incredible power i have on my side!! i feel very fortunate and thankful that i was able to go home and hug my family that evening :)

new opportunities

we, jerry & i, have decided that i'm going back to work part time. i have been trying to pick up shifts at methodist on and off, but i need something with guaranteed hours/pay and it's time for jerry to take a break and only work 1 job! my search began and i felt like i was getting nowhere. you'd think with 10 years of pediatric experience i would've had an easier time, but i felt very discouraged. finally after emailing my previous manager, i got some great leads and was offered 2 different positions. this made for a difficult decision, but one that i was excited to make. i've accepted a position on the medication reconciliation team at iu hospital in indy. it will be completely different than bedside nursing and an awesome learning experience. i'm very excited to take on a new challenge. i'm going to stay supplemental at methodist so that i can keep up my pediatric nursing skills also, but my focus now will be on learning how to be a med rec nurse!